


Birthday Ramen

by Figgyfan14



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 08:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6323137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Figgyfan14/pseuds/Figgyfan14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto never celebrates his birthday, until the year Iruka invites him out to ramen at Ichiraku's.<br/>Just a little fluffy thing I wrote in a moment of inspiration at 2am!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Ramen

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this, because it is nothing but just my own brain providing me with means to procrastinate at posting chapters of anything I have been working on already. I procrastinate like a boss. Anywho, enjoy!

Naruto never celebrates his birthday. Every year on the tenth of October a ceremony is held to remember their fallen Hokage and the attack on the village by the Kyuubi, and Naruto always finds that this day passes in mourning and the outright hatred of him is worse than any other day of the year. His tenth birthday is two days away, and he finds himself dreading this day more than hoping for it as other children seem to.

Except something is very different this year. Iruka-sensei invited him out to Ichiraku Ramen for his birthday, and Naruto doesn't know how to tell his sensei that he can't stand the looks other adults give him. That he hurts inside when they glare at him or mutter curses when they think he can't hear. So, he agreed to it yesterday, and now he wakes up with dread in the pit of his stomach as he goes to class. The days leading up to his birthday are usually only mildly better than the day itself, and civilians and shinobi alike seem to scowl at him as he makes his way from his lonely apartment to the academy.

He doesn't pay attention in class, of course, and Iruka scolds him, but no more than usual. The kids tease him, but they also seem mostly unaffected by the date, and he's glad for that. It's most of the reason he braves the outside world for school on these days. After school, he retreats to his home as quickly as possible, but he's caught slipping through a garden gate on his shortcut by one of the older Konoha civilians.

“What are you doing in my yard, brat? Get out of here!” The woman snaps, waving her cane at him and glaring fiercely. Without going through her yard, Naruto has to travel an extra two blocks, but he quickly slips away, not saying a word back and ignoring her grumpy ramblings about demon brats.

He's heard it before, and he's almost certain it's because of his blue eyes. In all his time in the village, he has never met a single other person with eyes his color. Or hair, for that matter. People always flinch when he meets their gaze, no matter what age they are, and he just tries to keep from flinching away as well. On his circuitous route, he runs into another three people that scowl at him and growl under their breath, but he just ducks his head and tries to keep the smile forcibly in place.

He won't let them see him cry, even if that's the first thing he does when he gets home.

The next day passes the same, and Naruto would skip class of the tenth if it wasn't for his sensei, but he makes it there without any major incidents and promptly spaces off when the usual talk of the Kyuubi and other bijuu starts up, as it always does on this day.

_ Sasuke-teme is looking more annoying than usual, today, _ Naruto thinks as discussion breaks out about the fourth Hokage.  _ One day, I'll be Hokage, and no one will dare to scowl at me on my own birthday. _

“Iruka-sensei, how did Hokage-sama defeat the Kyuubi? None of the history books talk about it. Did he make it a jinchuuriki like the other bijuu are?” Naruto’s eyes snap to Sakura, the most beautiful kunoichi ever and smartest girl in his class, as she asks this question. He's never heard anything about how they actually beat the demon, and that thought occurs to him just now. It must have been super cool ninjutsu to take down such a powerful enemy.

“Well, they did seal the fox, yes, though the specifics of this are unknown, as they lured it away from the village and no one was around when it was done.” Iruka replies with his usual polite smile, and Naruto sighs in disappointment. No cool story after all, though his mind does make up a pretty awesome fight scene with huge chains made of visible chakra and a gigantic toad, a red haired woman and blonde man fighting side by side.

“H-how do we really know the Kyuubi is gone if we don't know what happened?” A girl with short black hair stutters out, and Naruto thinks her name is Hinata, but he doesn't know much about her.

“Because the Kyuubi was the size of a mountain and more ruthless than any of the other bijuu. It attacked without provocation, and only its death or entrapment could keep it from continuing, right sensei?” Sakura interjects, and Naruto isn't sure but thinks that may be straight out of the history scroll in the library.

“Correct, Sakura. We know it was defeated.” Iruka glances at Naruto when he says this, and Naruto thinks it must be because he hasn't been paying attention. He sits a bit straighter, though he continues to stare that the window for most of the class.

“Early dismissal today for the memorial, class. Don't miss it.” This is new. It must be because it was ten years ago, and the village just finished the last of the reconstruction a month ago.

Naruto looks at the kids around him as they all seem to gravitate toward another student or three to chat as they leave, all except Sasuke-teme and himself, of course. The bastard looks even more sullen, now, and Naruto just ignores him as he approaches Iruka, grin wide and very forced.

“Hey, sensei, did you mean what you said about ramen today?” He makes his voice as light as possible, overly joyous if anything, and notices Sasuke is glaring at him as he methodically stacks his notes and slips them into his bag.

“Of course, Naruto, but after the memorial. And don't act like you weren't staring into space all class, I saw you.” His teacher scolds lightly but ruffles his hair anyway, and Naruto is pretty sure that getting his hair ruffled by Iruka-sensei is the best thing second only to ramen. Possibly not even second, and his face flushes as his smile becomes more genuine.

“Sorry, sensei, but you know we talk about the same thing every year! This year all we learned was about the buji or whatever.” The blonde isn't sure about the specifics, because he really hadn't paid attention.

“Bijuu, Naruto, and I hope you know enough to pass the quiz on it tomorrow.” Iruka-sensei says, though his voice is fond, and Naruto looks away from Sasuke again to grin up at his teacher. They both know he won’t pass it, but that isn’t for today. With a parting glare, Sasuke slips out of the room with the other kids, and Naruto catches Iruka giving him a worried look, a spike of jealousy piercing him. Everyone likes Sasuke, and he would worry Iruka would replace him with the other boy, but then his sensei is smiling again and ruffling his hair one last time before stepping away, and Naruto forgets his worries in favor of following his sensei from the room.

They go to the memorial first, and Naruto pastes himself to Iruka’s side during it, getting glares even as he stands amongst the masses of people. He thinks it is worth it, though, as he lets his sensei lead the way to the ramen shop afterwards. The people at Ichiraku’s are always polite to him, after all, and he finds himself feeling more accepted there than he does anywhere else, except possibly at Iruka’s own apartment. He grins at the family that runs it, and his smile is returned, even as he and his teacher order their first of many future bowls of ramen together.

It's the start of a tradition, and Naruto eventually learns to ignore the people that scowl at him and focus only on those that matter. He focuses on the Hokage-jiji and Iruka-sensei and the kind people that sell him ramen without prejudice, and when he and Iruka have ramen there two years later, the night before Naruto’s final failed exam, he has learned to smile more genuinely, if only sometimes. And when he learns of the reason people scowl at him, it only solidifies the importance of his goals and of those few people that care for him. As that number slowly grows, as he finds his precious people, he can always look back on that tipping point.

Iruka-sensei invited him out to Ichiraku Ramen for his birthday, and it makes all the difference in the way Naruto lives his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!


End file.
